Mara Berni

The actress Mara Berni (not to be confused with the Piedmontese chef Mara Berni, who was also born in 1932) began her career as child actress Mara Bernasconi on the stage. After taking acting classes under the veteran Teresa Franchini in Milan, she also studied piano and dance. First on screen as a TV announcer, Berni made her film debut in 1952 and had her first successes in a trio of back-to-back comedies starring Alberto Sordi (Accadde al commissariato (1954), Buonanotte... avvocato! (1955) and Accadde al penitenziario (1955)). A curvaceous blonde with undeniable sex appeal, she was often typecast as shady ladies or femmes fatale, or as decorative leads in swashbucklers (Spade senza bandiera (1961)) and peplum (Sansone (1961), La furia di Ercole (1962), Maciste contro lo sceicco (1962)), starring American muscle men Brad Harris and Ed Fury. Her final picture was the low budget black & white early 'giallo' flic Assassino senza volto (1968), in which Berni played the unhinged owner of a murder castle. Feeling underused and predictably dissatisfied with the roles on offer, Berni made no further film appearances after 1968.